Eighteen arrested in undercover child exploitation investigation

by Katie Shepherd

Pictured here are 18 men recently arrested for violations of the Child Exploitation Act of 2007 during a joint investigation with state and federal undercover investigators / Photo: Georgia Bureau of Investigation

DECATUR, Ga. -- An undercover state and federal investigation into the exploitation of minors led to the recent arrest of 18 men in Georgia .

The men were arrested over a five-day period beginning on Thursday, May 12th, according to a release from the Georgia Bureau of Investigation.

The sting, dubbed "Operation Riptide," was coordinated by the GBI's Child Exploitation and Computer Crimes Unit (CEACC), the Georgia Internet Crimes Against Children (ICAC) Task Force and the Glynn County Police Department. Fourteen local law enforcement agencies participated in the operation, in addition to the FBI, Homeland Security Investigations and the U.S. Secret Service.

The undercover investigation was conducted online in a coordinated effort by the federal agencies, the GBI and the local agencies willing to participate, including the Alpharetta Police Department, the Atlanta Police Department, the Brunswick Police Department, the Clayton County Police Department, the Cook County Sheriff's Department, the Coweta County Sheriff's Office, the DeKalb County Police Department, the Glynn County District Attorney's Office, the Glynn County Sheriff's Office, the Jasper County Sheriff's Office, the Liberty County Sheriff's Office, the McIntosh County Sheriff's Office, the Polk County Police Department, the Warner Robins Police Department and the Woodstock Police Department.

The GBI release states that the suspects, who ranged in age from 19 to 58 years old and worked in occupations such as construction workers truck drivers and restaurant workers, traveled to the Brunswick area from parts of Georgia and North Florida with the intent of meeting a child for sex. The GBI stated that the purpose of this operation was to target "those that are willing to exploit children by purchasing sex with a minor."